Pete Seeger: share your memories, say your goodbyes

This morning, we say goodbye to the great Pete Seeger, who died at 94 after a long lifetime of singing, spinning yarns and taking stands for peace and sanity. You can read the AP obit here.

Last May, Pete and his sister Peggy performed at Proctors in a performance that was as much a love-in and a singalong as it was a concert. Greg Haymes’ review is here. And here’s my interview with the singular, beautiful Pete, who answered my questions in story and song. What I’ll never forget: the gentle, rasping roll to his voice, and the way he spoke of his hopes for humanity as vividly as he spoke of the past.

How will you remember him? How will you say goodbye? Share your thoughts.

I have the live concert double album he did with Arlo Gutherie -Precious Friend – it has been one of my eternal favorites for around 30 years or more – downloaded on my Ipod. I am listening to it, with so many fond memories of growing up in a family that loved the whole folk scene back in the 70’s.

I was about 15 when I first heard Pete Seeger. Of course I had “heard” him before, without realizing it, but it was when I listened to “Little Boxes” that he really spoke to me.

A few years later, I found myself marching shoulder-to-shoulder with hundreds of thousands of people in DC protesting the war in Iraq when someone with a guitar came along as starting signing “We Shall Overcome” just as we began passing in front of the White House. It didn’t take long for the crowd to begin singing in unison, the lot of us embodying the meaning Mr. Seeger worked to convey through his music.

In the years since, I’ve found myself more and more drawn to the messages Mr. Seeger perpetuated in his stories, sung and spoken. I’ve been able to introduce him in increments to my children, namely, through “The Foolish Frog,” one of their favorite stories and songs to recite.

Then in September, I was privileged enough to cover Farm Aid for the Times Union. Surely I knew that I would brush against famous folk running between the photo pit and press tent throughout the day. Little did I know I’d be asked to come backstage with a colleague (Tom Duffy from Billboard Magazine) to sit and chat with Mr. Seeger after his surprise performance that evening; a set that had all 25,000+ attendees on their feet, signing in glorious choir the words of some of his most enduring ditties. He had just performed with the likes of venerable musicians like Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp, Neil Young, and Dave Matthews, yet he was gracious enough to kindly welcome us in for as long as we wanted. He was clearly exhausted, but that didn’t stop him from encouraging us to sing a newer song with him (“English is Crazy”). He greeted us with grandfatherly warmth, offering us some refreshments and asking us how we were “holding up” that day. I wrote a bit more about that experience here, including a quick video: http://blog.timesunion.com/eatlocal/the-night-i-partied-with-pete/2063/

Regardless of his status or position, his fame, Pete instilled in me the same feeling of hope and promise in his presence as he has in his recordings. As Arlo Guthrie said today, “Well, of course he passed away….But that doesn’t mean he’s gone.” And when I sing the first verse of “Little Boxes” to my children at bedtime tonight, I’ll remember that as much as ever.

Well, I n3ver met Pete, but we have many mutual friends and acquaintances: Ed & Margie at 8th Step, Bill and Andy at Old Songs, Michael Eck, Cathy Winter, Janis Ian… Just way too many to name.

I learned to use a record player when I was 5, just playing Pete’s “Children’s Concert At Town Hall” album over and over… Now, more than 50 years later, my mother and I will start singing “Henry, My Son” with little or no provocation.

My elementary school music teacher, Gertrude Ferguson (Who I owe so much more than I can ever repay!) was a friend of Pete’s and spoke of him when she explained what Folk Music was, and how there was no one “right way” to sing a song (Because I had only ever heard Trini Lopez’ version of “If I Had A Hammer”, so that was the only way to sing it, right?); She started to play some of Pete’s other albums for us, and I let the music overwhelm me.

The only concert I ever bought inside seats for at SPAC was a Pete Seeger/Arlo Guthrie concert in the early 70s. My friends were there because they knew Arlo from the movie “Woodstock”; I was there because of Pete.

I was privileged to be at the 8th Step Concert with Pete and Peggy last summer. A wonderful show, with wonderful people – It is an indelible memory of a wonderful man.

The first thing that came to my mind when I heard about Pete Seeger dying was enormous gratitude for the magical man I married. It was not he who introduced me to Pete, but together for many years we trekked from Carnegie Hall to The Gate to Lenox where I indulged his passion for the classical as long as the after-party could be at The Music Barn where so often Pete, or Pete and Arlo Guthrie sang long into the night … longer, I am sure, than they were paid for!Stu knew Allan Lomax and Ronnie Gilbert from his long years in the Village before I came along so of course, I got to meet them all. Later, I dragged the children to whatever dock the CLEARWATER was tied up to. No pumpkin was ever so good as a Pete Seeger pumpkin! Was I ever so young? RIP